Question: When Baron Munchausen and his cohorts clean out the Sultan's vault, the Sultan's horrified Treasurer crosses himself in the Catholic fashion. But, in this film, the Sultan is head of the Ottoman Empire (a Muslim empire), and the closest members of his court (such as his Treasurer) would surely be Muslim. So the treasurer's Christian gesture stands out as unlikely, at best. This seems to be a character error, but was it intended as a deliberate joke? If so, what was the joke?
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Question: At the start of each episode of Mission Impossible Briggs or Phelps received details of the mission from a tape recording that was 'hidden in plain sight', say a telephone booth displaying a poster saying 'Telephone Out Of Order. Do Not Use'. So, what would happen if somebody went into the kiosk before Briggs or Phelps, picked up the telephone and got the secret message ahead of the Mission Impossible team?
Answer: This is not really a serious question. When I posted this question I was fully aware that Mission Impossible is only a television programme. Like many espionage thrillers (Man From Uncle, The Avengers, James Bond) it is meant to entertain, it is never meant to be taken literally seriously. It was essential to the story that Briggs or Phelps received a secret message, which would give them a mission to accomplish. If they did not receive the message you would not have had the story. When I used to watch Mission Impossible it just used to amuse me to wonder what might have happened had somebody picked up the phone containing the secret message ahead of Briggs or Phelps. I even considered writing to a comedian and suggesting that they devise a comedy sketch in which this happened. My question was only meant to be a joke, that I posted to amuse people.
The Lucy Show or Here's Lucy did an episode of exactly this scenario.
Question: How is it that Thomas can understand what the rabbits are saying as shown in the make-up scene and no other human can?
Answer: It's not clear if he actually can hear them or not. It's implied in the film that it's possibly stress or a mental break that is causing him to hallucinate their voices, or is suddenly thinking on a brain wave length that can understand them. If it's the former, it's coincidence that he hears similar to what Peter is actually saying. Either case explains why he suddenly can hear them when nobody else can around them despite them talking in front of people.
Answer: The humans can actually understand the rabbits. Because notice during the scene when Peter is about to put the carrot in the Old Mr. McGregor's pants, the rabbits are talking quietly, most likely so Mr. McGregor doesn't hear them. And then there aren't any other scenes where they talk at a normal volume, or talk at all around humans, except for at the end when Peter is apologizing to the young Mr. McGregor.
Question: What blew the door to Mike's workshop off its hinges?
Answer: That was the initial gas blow-out, prior to the explosion. Pressurized gas was coming out of the drill pipe with sufficient force to tear the place apart, even before it ignited.
What caused the gases to ignite?
Gas blowouts are notorious for igniting themselves. The vast quantity of gas and particulates, expelled under high pressure, create an electrostatic charge in the gas cloud that arcs to the nearest grounding point. It's like shuffling across a carpet and then touching a metal doorknob: a tiny electrostatic spark is created. Such a tiny spark is all that is necessary to ignite a cloud of petroleum gas.
Question: How did Bond win the game of backgammon, with Kamal Khan, when he didn't get all his chips off the board? Even the two sixes he rolled wouldn't have done it.
Answer: Bond (taking over for the Major) had 1 piece on point 2, 1 piece on point 3, and 2 pieces on point 6. Rolling doubles in Backgammon means you get to make 4 moves instead of just 2, so he was able to remove all 4 pieces. If you have a piece on point 2, you don't have to roll a 2 to remove it. Anything higher than a 2 can be used to remove the piece. Kahn even says Bond has to roll a double 6 in order to win, which he does.
Answer: Not knowing anything about backgammon so this is perhaps wrong. But I thought that Bond didn't win. And the fact that he produced the Faberge egg is what ended the game. (I'm more than likely wrong tho).
Question: How come all news networks refused to show Apollo 13's live TV broadcast?
Answer: The US had been to the moon twice before. America had already become jaded with NASA's successes and weren't interested in minute by minute coverage before they'd even reached the lunar surface.
The American public was not jaded with the lunar program so much as it was the Big Three television networks that had become complacent.
Question: When the soldiers were skydiving into the city why did they have red flares attached to their boots?
Answer: Due to the storm, it became difficult for the soldiers to see one another. The flares were used to help them keep track of their positions during the skydive.
Question: After Frank is essentially forced to abandon Brenda in order to avoid not getting caught at the airport he resumes his farce as a pilot and recruits young women as his accompanying stewardesses. Roughly how long does this thing with the stewardesses possibly last? Did he really risk to include them in his "trip" around the world to various countries to continue his fraud because obviously he abandoned them at some point and ended up in France where he was caught.
Answer: It lasts several months. The stewardesses were juniors and seniors from the University of Arizona, whom he fake-recruited for a PR project for Pan-Am (they were not supposed to be real stewardesses, but dress like them and be photographed in various European capitols). Frank was frequently being asked where his "crew" was, so he thought it would lend him credibility.
Question: Listen closely to this audio. Https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLkotrb1O5o The subtitles in the game show that he says; "All UAC employees are subject to regular Med-Checks to ensure their production capabilities are not degraded." However when listening to it... to me it sounds like he's saying "That" instead of "Their." I've listened to it over and over trying to decipher if the word he uses is "That" or "Their." I think there is a mistake here in the game with the subtitle using the wrong word... However I can't be certain. Is this guy saying "That" or "Their"? What do you think?
Answer: Sounds like "their" to me. The accent and rolling into the "production" means I can see it could go either way, but it's certainly not definitively "that" enough to be a mistake, I'd say.
Question: Did gases really go all over the exterior of the rig, and into the engine room as shown?
Answer: According to survivor reports, yes. In a gas blow-out, a huge quantity of pressurized petroleum gas pours out for many seconds, forming a rapidly-expanding cloud, before a single spark finally ignites it. Typically, the outpouring of gas creates its own spark as static electricity builds up.
Question: During "I Need A Hero" when Puss begins fighting the guards a Spanish song briefly plays, what is the name of the song? I know I've heard it somewhere else before.
Answer: It's an instrumental version of "Holding Out for a Hero", but because it's being played as a tango, it has a Spanish flair to it.
Answer: You're probably referring to "Livin' La Vida Loca", which was the first major hit single for Ricky Martin in 1998; in this film it's performed by Eddie Murphy and Antonio Banderas in character as Donkey and Puss In Boots, respectively.
I don't think the person who asked this question is referring to Living La Vida Loca. I think the song being referred to is the scene where the Fairy Godmother is singing I Need A Hero whilst Shrek, Donkey and Puss are breaking into the castle, and Puss stops on the way to fight the guards. After Puss gives his kitten eyes and says "En guard", he jumps up, taking his sword out to fight the guards, and heroic Spanish music briefly begins to play in the background. (Watch the video of this scene on YouTube https://youtu.be/WI0mSEzttx8 at the 3:55 mark for confirmation). I think it is that small piece of music that plays that is being referred to in the question, not Living La Vida Loca.
I think it's just an original part of the song to be honest, something Spanish added into it but originally composed for the song.
Question: Why is it not possible to breach the security at the storage facility and use the robotic arm to swap the cards? It is an option never discussed.
Answer: This plan is not discussed because they may not have had the hacking skills to take control of the robotic arm. Regardless of whether or not they did, it would not have been the best idea as they are supposed to be infiltrating the facility in complete secrecy. The plan of Ethan holding his breath underwater and manually planting the cards into the system is a lengthier plan, but is less likely to result in them being caught.
Answer: Because no metal was allowed in the system.
Question: Why did Vidrine not think there was anything wrong with the drill pipe, even though the drill pipe test showed a lot of pressure? Second, why did the test on the kill line show no pressure?
Answer: Vidrine didn't think there was anything wrong with the the drill pipe because there was nothing wrong with it. The problem was the cement cap they tried installing to seal the well. The thing to keep in mind is that British Petroleum didn't intend to immediately tap that well. Managers and crew of the floating platform rig planned to just cap the well and let another rig come along to handle actual production later. The crew was thus a little anxious to cement the well closed and abandon it. Some think it was this anxiousness to move on that produced the blowout. Of many procedures performed prior to abandonment was the "negative test" (whereby drilling mud was pulled out of the well to determine whether the cement cap could withstand the pressure). The negative test was bad, showing pressure in the drill line, an indication that gas had entered the well because they were applying suction to it, and the integrity of the cement cap was compromised. That's when Vidrine ordered the second test, this time on the kill line, and got a reading of no pressure (which was good, but was probably a false reading). Obviously, something wasn't right; but Vidrine, anxious to wrap the operation, decided to trust the kill line reading and basically ignore the drill line reading. This was a major mistake. As they continued pulling the drilling mud out, highly-pressurized gas shot straight up the drill pipe to the rig, and that was the end of Deepwater Horizon.
In the movie, the reason the kill line got no pressure is because the pipe got clogged. (if you listen to the audio description, you'll hear the audio describer the mud clogs the pipe during the kill line pressure test scene).
I thought it was mud that shot straight up from the drill pipe to the rig.
They were sucking the drilling mud up the pipe, but there was high-pressure petroleum gas behind it. They only realised too late that they had failed to cap the well; and then hell, as they say, broke loose.
Then what was that fluid flying upward through derrick?
You can liken a gas blow-out to somebody popping the top on a pressurized can of soda; gas and fluid alike come spewing out of what was, a moment before, a fairly stable fluid. Under tremendous pressure, all you need to do is give natural gas an escape route and all kinds of stuff comes up with it, including crude oil, asphalt, drilling mud, water, etc. The gas is blasting out of the earth and carrying anything and everything with it.
The mud contained a certain methane gas proportion, which ignited and caused the explosions.
Authorities don't think Vidrine was ultimately responsible though. They believe the an employee who died in the disaster was, because he was responsible for the bladder effect hypothesis. I think what the film is actually trying to say is that the person who made the mistake of trusting the kill line was ultimately responsible.
In real life, it was Vidrine who chose to trust the kill line reading and ignore the drill line reading.
By blaming someone who isn't around to defend themselves as they died in the disaster is considered cowardly. That's why in my opinion, money exchanged hands between BP and the Authorities to ensure no charges were brought against Vidrine. Again that's my own opinion. Here's a link to where the manslaughter charges against Kaluza and Vidrine are dropped https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/dec/03/manslaughter-charges-dropped-bp-employees-deepwater-horizon-oil-spill.
Personally I think the idea that the actual villain was the guy who was responsible for the bladder effect hypothesis, and not the guy who chose to trust the kill line reading, and not the drill line reading is absurd.
Question: Not just this, but every cinema and television adaptation of the legend of The Man in the Iron Mask that I have seen, without exception, has always left me asking the same question. A man is locked up in a lonely prison where his face is hidden by an iron mask. The Three Musketeers or some similar swashbuckling heroes rescue him. He may have worn the iron mask for weeks, months, or even years. So why is it, that, when the iron mask is removed he always emerges clean shaven?
Answer: The mask would be periodically removed by the prisoner's attendants to shave his beard and cut his hair. Leaving it on permanently and letting his beard and hair grow endlessly would create physical and medical problems, possibly even suffocating him eventually. The goal was to keep him imprisoned for a long period of time, not to execute him.
But isn't he wearing the mask so that nobody will know who he is? If the prison staff keep removing the mask to shave him and cut his hair then they will all know exactly what he looks like, and they will be able to identify him. In many versions of the story he has to wear the mask so that nobody will recognise him as the king's twin brother. If the prison guards remove the mask won't they see how he resembles the king? Alternatively, if the prison guards already know that he is the king's twin brother, then why bother to mask his face?
Anyone who was guarding and/or attending to the prisoner would be loyal to the king, acting as his agents, and sworn to keep his secrets. Not doing so would be treason. They would likely have minimal knowledge of who this person was, nor would it matter to them. They may or may not notice any resemblance to the king. In the prisoner's disheveled and weakened conditioned, it would not be obvious that he is an identical twin. Also, few people in pre-mass media times, knew what royals looked like, probably only catching occasional glimpses of them from far away, if ever at all.
Answer: In the 1939 version of The Man in the Iron Mask starring Louis Hayword, when the mask is taken off, he does have a beard. Phillipe even asks Louis how long it will take for his (Louis') beard to grow once he is in the mask.
Question: I've seen this video about how Daniel is the real bully. Can someone please explain how?
Answer: It is important to note that the video in question was obviously facetious in tone. However specifically regarding the fight on the beach, Daniel's fight with Bobby on the soccer field, and Daniel hosing Johnny down in the bathroom it could certainly be argued that Daniel either escalated the situation or directly instigated violent contact. Also of important note, the series Cobra Kai essentially lends credence to these arguments and paints Daniel as a much less honorable hero and Johnny as a much more sympathetic villain.
Answer: Like someone mentioned, that video was pretty much a joke. Daniel was never the bully and like others have mentioned in these q/as Johnny wasn't full bully either. Daniel did however have a temper and exacerbated the situations while Johnny let himself be egged on by Dutch and Kreese. In the Cobra Kai show, Johnny did also exaggerate to Miguel and the other Cobra's and even himself that Daniel was the bully, but he was just deluding himself. And you can see by his expressions that he knew he was lying. If you go back to the beach scene you will see Johnny was being an abusive d**k to Ali and Daniel was the only one that stood up for her. Johnny ripped her stereo out of her hands, broke it and got in her face. Yeah she got right back in his face, but this is when he, as the wrong party should have backed down. He did not so Daniel stepped in. If No One stepped in to help her, they would have been all disgraceful in my eyes. The show and movie are pretty nuanced and quite deep.
Answer: It appears that way at certain times throughout the film, Daniel tends to instigate fights such as getting involved between Johnny and Ali's fight on the beach, and spraying Johnny with the hose in the bathroom. Of course Johnny summed it up when he said to Daniel "You couldn't leave well enough alone."
Question: Why was Jesse Spencer allowed to keep his natural accent, but not Hugh Laurie?
Answer: Because the part of House was written as an American and the part of Chase wasn't.
Question: When David touches the guy in the stadium he feels that he is carrying a gun but when he actually checks him he doesn't find one. Why?
Answer: I believe you are confusing the man with the gun with the man with the drugs. The man with the gun is never searched because he steps out of line and walks away. The man with the drugs (who is played by director M. Night Shyamalan) is searched for drugs, but David doesn't find any. Either he had the drugs in the stadium at a previous game or he sold/passed them along to someone else before David bumped into him.
Question: Have the filmmakers offered any explanation as to why they used CGI for Wolverine's claws in the bathroom scene? As has been pointed out numerous times, the CGI is very poor. Given that the previous three X-Men films used practical claws that looked just fine, this seemed like a very impractical thing to do, especially considering the extra time and money going with CGI would require.
Chosen answer: While it's not a definitive answer, the practical claws were still dangerous and several stunt people, and Hugh Jackman himself, have been injured during filming of the X-Men films. I don't know if they simply wanted to try to be safer or if there was a request made. Plus, the other films still used CGI claws for certain scenes, so perhaps they thought they could pull it off. It should be noted that Hugh Jackman went back to practical claws during filming of The Wolverine.
Question: Has there ever been an explanation as to why the number "57" appears throughout the film? The number appears specifically three times: Ripley was floating in space for 57 years, the sentry guns have a model number of 571, and 157 colonists were killed. It just seems like the number comes up too many times to be a coincidence.
Answer: I have done some research looking into this, and I can't find anything about it. Only stuff talking about her being asleep for 57 years. I believe the other two occurrences are in fact coincidence. If it was meant to signify anything, it would likely have appeared more and as its own number of 57. Not part of 571 or 157.
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Answer: The Baron is a teller of tall tales and massively exaggerated stories, so it is all from his limited point of view. The Ottomans did have Christian members of staff, especially doctors and such but the treasurer would never be a non-Muslim.